It’s All About the Beach

About James Kemp

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

“I drew and painted a little as a young child but never seriously. In my first year of college, I decided to take a beginner painting course, and instantly knew it was what I wanted to do with my life. When I approached my Dad to let him know, his response was priceless. He said that he knew I had good taste in life and that living to those standards cost money, followed by “and I’ve seen your art.” (Some of my early work can be seen on my Website under my Artist Statement. So he recommended I not major in art but get a basic business administration degree and over time find time to pursue my art interests. I was pretty devastated at the time, but in hindsight, it was good advice. My business degree allowed me to collect art over many years during my travels and to become friends with most of the people I collected from. I studied their styles, we talked a lot about the process, and after retiring early, I began to pursue my dream of becoming an artist. That was almost three years ago and I’ve been painting ever since. Through several local art classes and online courses, I’ve begun to develop my style – painting mostly local landscapes, with some figures and architecture. I love my time in the studio and expressing myself through my work. My Dad didn’t live to see my recent work, but I know he would be proud of his son, the artist.”

I am inspired each day by the abundance of beauty – light, color, water, coast, marsh – in the natural spaces in our new community in Rehoboth Beach, DE. Here I find the tranquility of a setting that I have not known since my early days in Georgia.

I enjoy studio work and Plein air. I am a member of the Rehoboth Art League and was honored to win the Col. W.S. Corkran Award (Best Painting Representation of the Eastern Shore) for “Meandering Marsh” in July 2019.

I am grateful to the teachers, friends, and family that have supported me as I learn my craft and explore the world through what I can convey on canvas.

Artist Statement

As a boy, I spent my happiest days on my grandparents’ farm in Georgia, with its quiet and intimate relationship with earth and sun and rain. I was drawn to the colors of nature’s bounty, the design of the rows of cotton, the weathered wood barns, and the beauty of the meandering streams in low country settings. My creative process, first in photography and now in painting, is animated by the colors, patterns, and structures found in nature. Some paintings reflect serenity, some simple joy, but my goal always is to capture what I see as essential in each subject.